Media Notes
In a USA TODAY Sports section Cover Story on the bidding for the U.S. TV rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, Michael Hiestand writes the total fee is expected to top $2B, a "33% increase over what NBC paid, in quiet negotiations without open bidding in 1995, for the 2006 and 2008 Games." The Bonham Group Chair Dean Bonham: "This will be the first time in the history of the industry that all the bidders will be bidding as conglomerates, not just as individual networks" (USA TODAY, 4/22).
MONDAY, MONDAY: The Initiative Media African-American Television Viewing Study, conducted by Initiative Media, part of IPG, shows that of the ten prime-time series "watched most by blacks in the fourth quarter, ... two were also among the 10 most watched by whites" — ABC's "MNF" and CBS' "CSI" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/21)....ESPN Outdoors Senior VP & GM Michael Rooney said that the net is "working to build up the entertainment value and `storytelling'" of its outdoors programming. The Monday night lineup will be revamped, expanding from 9:00pm ET to midnight, and will include "some new programs specifically created to make outdoor sports more entertaining." "Fish On!" will not return, but will be replaced by a reality-based fishing program called "Totally Hooked." Also, Evander Holyfield, Brian Urlacher, actor Liam Neeson and others will be featured on upcoming episodes of "The New American Sportsman" (N.Y. POST, 4/20).
NOTES: In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote that YES "is having internal growing pains that may bode for more changes." Among the "disgruntled announcers" are Bobby Murcer and Suzyn Waldman. But, "above all, the messy finale to the 13-month Cablevision-YES battle appears to have lowered [YES Chair & CEO Leo] Hindery's stock. ... It's not surprising that there have been increased rumblings of late concerning a possible change in YES' executive suite before the year is out" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/19)....DAILY VARIETY's Ed Meza reported that Germany-based sporting goods retailer KarstadtQuelle, Swiss sporting goods entrepreneur Hans-Deter Cleven and EM.TV have purchased sports channel DSF for over $20M from Kirch. The deal includes Kirch Internet sports platform Sport1 (DAILY VARIETY, 4/20).
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